Improved concrete pavement



iiilloiterl giiitlfi HARVEY B. STEELE, 0F WINCHESTER, CONNECTICUT.

Letters Patent No. 92,390, dated July 6, 1869.

IMPROVED CONCRETE PAVEMENT.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of t e flame- To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARVEY B. STEELE, of'Winchester, Litchfield county, State of Connecticut, have invented a new and improved Mode of Making and Laying Concrete Pavemen for paving of streets, sidewalks, or for other purposos; and I do hereby declare that thefollowin g is a full and exact description thereof.

he object of my invention is to obviate oertain diflicnlties heretofore experienced in laying concrete pavements, some of which have been serious drawbacks to its introduction into general use, particularly for sidewalks, carriage-drives, 860., in public parks'or grounds; and

It consists in the means employed to accomplish such object.

To enable others skilled in the art to construct and use my improved pavement, I will proceed to describe my methodof constructing it.

I form the bed or lower strata of the pavement by excr'vating the earth to the depth of a foot, (more or lessx and filling the excavation, thus formed, with broken stone orcoarse gravel, to the depth of about six inches. v

I then place a board or plank near each edge of the walk, and running parallel with it, inclined about thirty degrees, the outeror lower edge of the board extending under and near the inside edge of the curb-stone,

the inner edge rising at the aforesaid angle to near the under surface oft-he concrete.

T his 'board' may vary in width, in proportion to the width of the curb-stone, and is intended for a watershed, to conduct off the water that may penetrate down between the concrete and the curb, and prevent -it from running under and undermining the walk.

I then place diagonally across the bed ofstone or gravel, above referred to, thin, narrow strips of wood, so that they will be embedded in the concrete, and which will firmly bind and prevent it from cracking, which has hitherto proved a great source of trouble in laying concrete pavements.

To the composition or concrete which I. use, and which is composed of eighty parts gravel, five parts sand, five parts coal-tar or asphalturn,two parts coalashes, I add hydrochloric acid, in the proportions of about one ounce to a barrel of coal-tar, while in a heated state, which has the effect to deodorize it.

The composition is thoroughly mixed, and applied in a heated state to the bed, already described, to the depth (for ordinary sidewalks) of about fourinches, and rolled with a heavy roller, or pounded until it is perfectly cold and solid.

I am awarethat the use of gravel, sand, ashes, and coal-tar, for pavements, in various proportions, is not new, nor do I claim such ingredients of themselves; but, having thus described my invention,

What 'I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, i s

1. The pavement, composed of the ingredients set forth, when prepared and laid in the manner substantially as described.

2. The binders, or diagonally-placed strips of wood, when used in combination with a concrete pavement, in the manner andfor the purpose substantially as described.

HARVEY B. STEELE. Witnesses: E. S. WOODFORD,

S. F. DICKERMAN. 

